Movie-goers went hunting for their inner caveman as they sat in the dark for the prehistoric adventure "10,000 B.C.," which led the weekend box office with $35.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Warner Bros. visual effects spectacle, which follows a band of people struggling to survive amid woolly mammoths, saber toothed tigers and human marauders, also took in $25.3 million in 20 overseas markets where it began rolling out Wednesday.
Opening in second place was Disney's Martin Lawrence comedy "College Road Trip," which pulled in $14 million. Lawrence stars as an overprotective dad who tags along with his daughter (Raven-Symone) on her girls-only trek to choose a college.
Both movies put in decent numbers despite bad reviews.
"10,000 B.C." came in well behind the openings of past blockbusters from director Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day," "Godzilla"), whose best debut came four years ago with "The Day After Tomorrow" at $68.7 million.
"Those movies opened up in the summer. We're very strong for this time of year," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner.
Fellman said Emmerich's films tend to do better internationally, including "The Day After Tomorrow," which topped out at $186.7 million domestically and did nearly twice that business overseas.
"10,000 B.C." opened at No. 1 in 19 of its 20 foreign markets, among them Spain, Mexico, Germany and Australia, said Veronica Kwan-Rubinek, head of international distribution for Warner.
Overall business was off compared to the same time frame a year ago, an almost inevitable decline given that the blockbuster "300" opened with $71 million over that weekend in 2007, twice the haul of "10,000 B.C." The top-12 movies took in $91.8 million, down 34 percent from the same weekend last year.
It was the fourth straight weekend that revenues fell, cutting into a surge in movie-going earlier this year. Attendance is up just 0.5 percent so far in 2008 compared to a year ago, according to box office tracker Media By Numbers.
"The advantage we've been enjoying over the last couple of months has really taken a punch in the gut," said Paul Dergarabedian, Media By Numbers president.
The previous weekend's top flick, New Line Cinema's basketball comedy "Semi-Pro" starring Will Ferrell, tumbled to fourth place with $5.8 million. That brought its 10-day total to just $24.7 million, a poor showing for a Ferrell comedy.
Debuting at No. 5 was Lionsgate's heist thriller "The Bank Job," which opened with $5.7 million. Jason Statham stars as a former crook drawn back to a life of crime when he's lured into robbing a Lloyd's of London bank vault.
In narrower release, Focus Features' 1930s comedy "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" opened with $2.5 million in 535 theaters for an average of $4,750 a cinema, compared to $10,478 in 3,410 theaters for "10,000 B.C." and $5,174 in 2,706 locations for "College Road Trip."
"Miss Pettigrew" stars Frances McDormand as a destitute British governess who bluffs her way into a gig as social secretary to a flighty American actress (Amy Adams).
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "10,000 B.C.," $35.7 million.
2. "College Road Trip," $14 million.
3. "Vantage Point," $7.5 million.
4. "Semi-Pro," $5.8 million.
5. "The Bank Job," $5.7 million.
6. "The Spiderwick Chronicles," $4.8 million.
7. "The Other Boleyn Girl," $4 million.
8. "Jumper," $3.8 million.
9. "Step Up 2 the Streets," $3 million.
10. "Fool's Gold," $2.8 million.
'10,000 B.C.' hunts up $35.7 million
"Spartans" spoof conquers "Rambo" at box office
It turns out that Rambo is no match for a bunch of silly Spartans.
"Meet the Spartans," a parody of the ancient Greek warriors lionized in the 2007 hit "300," topped the North American weekend box office with $18.7 million, emerging victorious over the return of Sylvester Stallone's signature action hero.
"I think everyone expected 'Rambo' to be No. 1," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, which compiles box office projections.
"There are definitely a lot of serious films out there now but there was a big enough audience looking to have silly, mindless fun at movie theaters," Dergarabedian said.
Over the same weekend last year, another parody from News Corp.-owned 20th Century Fox, "Epic Movie," led the box office with an almost identical haul as that of "Meet the Spartans."
"Fox has sort of perfected the art of the spoof movie released at this time," Dergarabedian said.
According to estimates for the United States and Canada issued on Sunday, "Rambo," a joint release from Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company, debuted at No. 2 with $18.2 million, while last week's box-office champ, rampaging-monster flick "Cloverfield," fell to No. 4 with a take of $12.7 million.
Paramount's "Cloverfield" was expected to lose some of its punch; a strong word-of-mouth marketing campaign was expected to have motivated many viewers to see it on its opening weekend.
Another new entrant was Sony's cyber-thriller "Untraceable," which opened at No. 5 with $11.2 million.
Critically acclaimed "There Will Be Blood" jumped into the top 10 for the first time, earning the eighth spot with $4.9 million after Paramount Vantage expanded the number of theaters to nearly 900.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a ruthless Texas oilman, "There Will Be Blood" had a low-key debut late last year but has gathered steam after it got eight Oscar nominations.
"These are great results, it's No. 8 in the marketplace with a limited release. We're just seeing a sort of wonderful response across the country," said Rob Schulze of Paramount Vantage.
PLAYING FOR LAUGHS
"Spartans" was one of five films in the top 10 that played for laughs. Romantic comedy "27 Dresses," also from 20th Century Fox, fell one spot to No. 3 with $13.6 million while oops-I'm-pregnant film "Juno" from Fox Searchlight dropped two spots to No. 6 with $10.3 million, putting it over the $100 million mark since its Christmas release.
"The Bucket List," a widely panned comedy from Warner Bros pairing Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as adventure-seeking cancer patients, was No. 7 with $10.2 million while female heist movie "Mad Money" came in at No. 10 with $4.6 million. "Mad Money" was the debut release of Overture Films, a unit of Liberty Media Corp.'s cable TV operator Starz LLC.
Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" dug up a little more box office gold, with its $4.7 million making it good enough for No. 9. The Nicholas Cage adventure has raked in $205.4 million since its December release.
